More Biking and Music

Our first adventure today was a bike ride on the Kal-Haven Trail, formally known as the Kal-Haven Trail Sesquicentennial State Park. It extends for 33.5 miles along the former route of the Kalamazoo and South Haven Railroad. We started at the Kalamazoo trailhead and rode 9.6 miles to Kendall.

The entrance to the trail runs past this old caboose, which was earlier used as an office to sell trail passes, but those are no longer required.

The first section of the trail west of Kalamazoo is definitely downhill. We encountered a couple of downed trees across the trail, but mostly it's in pretty good condition.

After our bike ride we went to Costco and changed and shopped before going to Bronson Park in downtown Kalamazoo for another of the summer concert series. Today's group was the Verve Pipe, a rock and roll group with a very energetic stage presence. They started the concert off with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and then a group of veryr entertaining family-friendly songs for the kids (which we also enjoyed, being kids at heart....). The Verve Pipe have put out two albums of kids songs in addition to their "adult" rock and roll offerings.

The group is evidently quite popular in this area. They drew the largest crowd we have seen in Bronson Park.

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Portage Bicentennial Trail

We set out this morning for Portage. Ken had an appointment with a dentist there to get a crown installed. Once that was taken care of, we turned to fun. The southern trailhead for the Portage Bicentennial Trail was only half a mile from the dentist's office. We parked in the library parking lot and headed north on the trail, which was nicely paved all the way.

Shortly after we started our ride, we came upon a doe and fawn. They paid no attention to us. The fawn nonchalantly ate a flower as we watched. Ken had plenty of time to take photos. Clearly these deer are very familiar with people.

The trail runs more or less along Portage Creek.

At one point the trail runs under I-94. We were amused by the trail sign in the underpass.

We rode to the northern end of the trail and then turned back south. We visited the Celery Flats Historical District and rode part of the Millennium Trail, for a total of only 10.4 miles today. At that point we were hungry, so we went to Franco's Italian Pizzeria for lunch.


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Falling Waters Trail

We drove to Concord, MI, this morning to ride the Falling Waters Trail, which runs about 10.5 miles from Concord to Jackson along the former route of the Michigan Central Railroad section of the Air Line Railroad. It is a beautifully paved trail.

One of the unique features of this trail is that it runs along a causeway between the northern and southern parts of Lime Lake.

Originally there was just a pond here, but the Portland Cement Co. dredged the area for marl, the lime rich mud useful for cement making. Bird houses have been added to some of the old telegraph poles.

At the east end of the trail at Weatherwax Rd. in Jackson, we spotted this bike rental station. While we were there, two people rented bikes and another person returned one. They are clearly popular. You don't need an account to rent one, just a credit card.

On the way back we stopped at a picnic table on the lake to eat.

We spotted this little free library in the trailhead parking lot at Lime Lake, placed here by the Reading Writing Connection, a nonprofit in Jackson. On top is a quotation from Dr. Seuss: “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”

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More Kalamazoo

We went back to Kalamazoo today, first to bike ride and then to attend the concert in the park.

We parked near where we were last week, but this time we headed east. A fair amount of the bike path was right along the highway, but then we headed away from the road into a wooded area and we could hear the voices of children. We knew we were approaching a park, which turned out to be River  Oaks County Park. It was near the end of the bike trail. We rode past the park to the end of the trail and turned around.

Back at the park we stopped to use the restroom and look around. It turned out that the park is located on the shores of the Morrow Lake.  It's created by a dam on the Kalamazoo River of course.

While we were there we chatted with another couple out biking. He had a bright orange Specialized bike that he had just bought yesterday. It had fat tires  and disc brakes and looked really sharp. His wife was on a Trek Shift.  We talked about nearby bike trails, and they mentioned the Bicentennial Trail in Portage and the Kal-Haven trail. The bike on the left is Ken's, and the bike on the right is the brand new one we spotted.

Back at the Wenke Park parking lot, we stopped for a snack and watched the geese and ducks on the river. Then we figured we had another half hour to bike, so we headed west along the trail we rode last week.  We biked to the Mayor's Riverfront Park before turning around.

We got to Bronson Park early and set our chairs up and ate our lunches while the band set up and tested their sound system. The group this week was the Motor City Women and Detroit Express. They are popular locally and have won awards in Detroit. We enjoyed the concert scene, but this group was not our favorite.  

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Calhoun County Trailway

We rode the Calhoun County Trailway today. It forms part of the North County Trail and connects to the Linear Park in Battle Creek. We started at the Historic Bridge Park, which we had explored on a previous visit, and biked north. The Trailway is planned to extend 40 miles, but right now only 5.28 miles are completed.

Along the way we rode through Kimball Pines County Park and the Ott Biological Preserve, mainly through pines forest. Lovely wildflowers lined the path where it was open to the sun.

The sun was a major factor today. It was hot and humid, and we went through our water supply and had to refill at a gas station. The trail ends at Emmett Road, but a bike path on the sidewalk connects to the Linear Park .6 miles to the west. We rode over there and found a picnic table to have our picnic lunches.

Lots of folks were taking advantage of the Kalamazoo River to cool off and enjoy the day. We saw people putting in at the Historic Bridge Park, and some tubers floated past here.



On the way back we stopped at McDonald's to cool off with some ice cream and ice water. The round trip was about 14 miles, and by the time we got home, we were definitely tuckered out, mainly by the heat. Read more!

Battle Creek Linear Park

Battle Creek has a multiuse trail along its rivers--the Kalamazoo River and the Battle Creek River (the Battle Creek is a tributary of the Kalamazoo). Especially in the downtown area, the riverfronts are well developed to attract tourists.

The trail is called the Linear Park, and it extends over 26 miles around the city. We rode the Perimeter Loop, which is 10.5 miles, but with side trips we ended up with 12 miles total. We parked at the St. Thomas Episcopal Church and started on the trail near the Kellogg House and the Underground Railroad Sculpture, across the Battle Creek River from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which is responsible for the beautiful landscaping here.

The Underground Railroad Sculpture is adjacent to the path.

The nation's largest monument to the Underground Railroad. The 28-foot long, 14-foot high bronze statue depicts abolitionist Harriet Tubman, known as "Black Moses," and local "conductors" Erastus and Sarah Hussey as they lead a group of runaway slaves to safety. Designed by sculptor Ed Dwight. Near the Kellogg House in downtown Battle Creek. Built by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to honor men and women who operated the Underground Railroad, as well as courageous fugitives who fled north to freedom.

In addition to being an important station along the Underground Railroad, Battle Creek was also the home of Sojourner Truth for the last 26 years of her life. We visited her grave here in 2008.



After following the Battle Creek River to Bailey Park, the path veers north and later west before circling outside Leila Arboretum and heading back south to the Kalamazoo River.

Parts of the trail are not well signed, so we had to stop, get our bearings, and check Google Maps to find the way forward. The parts of the trail along the rivers are lovely, as are the parts by the Arboretum, but some sections along streets are not so inviting.

The Linear Park section along the rivers forms part of the North Country National Scenic Trail, and we hope to ride more of that trail in the future.






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Kalamazoo Fun

We put our bikes on the truck and headed to Kalamazoo for the day. First we did an 18 mile ride along the Kalamazoo Valley River Trail (KVRT to its friends). Kalamazoo, like Cleveland, had a river badly polluted by industry, and like Cleveland, it has taken steps to reclaim the river for wildlife and recreation. The KVRT section that we rode follows the river (more or less).

We started a few miles east of the city and rode west to the downtown area and then north to the Kalamazoo Nature Center. Along the way we crossed the river more than once.

Parts of the trail run through the nature center, where the trail is mostly through woodland shade. The part near downtown is commercial and open.

On our previous visits to this area, we have enjoyed the Sunday concerts in Bronson Park. Today's concert featured the Outer Vibe, an alternative/indie pop rock group originally from nearby Grand Haven. They have recently moved to Nashville.

Their lead singer has a strong, interesting falsetto voice.

The only woman in the group plays keyboard, ukelele, and trumpet and adds vocals.

They are a high energy, original group, and they got the audience up and dancing (well, at least some of the younger audience members....).

We'll be back next week for Motor City Women & Detroit Express.


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Fourth of July Family Reunion

When I was younger, every Fourth of July my mother's family had their annual "homecoming"--a gathering of all the Caton clan, all of Mom's brothers and sisters and their spouses and children would gather around Grandmama and Granddaddy Caton. We all went to North Carolina and renewed our ties with our grandparents and our far flung aunts and uncles and cousins.

This year we had another kind of Fourth of July family reunion, with cousins from three generations gathered at Peggy's home in Mentor. The last time we gathered at Peggy's, my Aunt Helene was there, but she passed away in April this year at the age of 96, the last of my dad's generation. We missed Brian also, who left us too young in December. We missed some others who were with us last time, but we also were very glad to see my cousin Jan and my cousin Mike with his wife Darlene.

Of course there was plenty of delicious food. Thanks to Peggy and all the cooks who contributed!

The old guard.....

The younger generations.... Read more!